


To Fence With Fate

by Raconteur_Reaper



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst and Feels, Angst and Humor, Best Friends, Drama, Dramedy, Female Friendship, Frenemies, Friendship, Gallows Humor, Gen, Inspired By Tumblr, Male Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, My First Work in This Fandom, POV Alternating, POV Multiple, POV Third Person Limited, Past Relationship(s), Plot Twists, Ravus is a goofball, Some Humor, Suspense, cleaning up this mess of a plot square gave us, hopefully?, im dyin, post ffxv chapter 9 spoilers, this reads like a YA novel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-10-04 19:32:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10287464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raconteur_Reaper/pseuds/Raconteur_Reaper
Summary: What if Ravus decided to change his fate? What if, when Ardyn confronts him in Altissia, he doesn't remain with the Empire? What if Ravus decides instead to grab his sister and they run for their lives? Shenanigans, drama, and hilarity ensue.





	1. RUN!

**Author's Note:**

> This fic begins during the events of FFXV Chapter 9 and diverges from there. If you have not played to that point in game, you may not want to read this!

CHAPTER 1: RUN.

The church haunted Ravus. His feet had dragged him through the steady rainfall, back to the site where his sister and Prince Noctis were supposed to have been wed. Luna’s determined, sleepless eyes, her slight body slumped defeated in her chair, her hoarse voice begging him to deliver the Ring of the Lucii to Noctis in her stead… It was burned into his mind like a brand marking her death warrant. He had refused her plea, steeling himself instead to be a voice of encouragement. She was to fulfill her duty as Oracle and he would support her summoning of Leviathan for Noctis, despite the process sapping her life. Now he was having second thoughts. Ravus was about to climb the steps of the church and pray for guidance when the last voice he wanted to hear interrupted his thoughts.

“The wedding day arrives, but alas, without the bride…” Chancellor Ardyn Izunia purred from behind Ravus, childishly twirling his umbrella, “of course, we’ve come for the Hydraean, and you’ve gone to such lengths to prepare!” 

He needed to get away from this guy.

“Merely my duty.” Ravus answered after swerving and pausing for a length. The Imperial Chancellor turned after him. Either he didn’t get the message or was blatantly ignoring him. It was probably the latter; Ardyn’s social skills were too polished. Pest.

“Ah, but for an outsider to lead the Imperial army must be a battle in and of itself.”

Ravus chose not to answer. Instead he continued to walk away. Still, more bait was thrown at him. It was a probing of allegiances wrapped in the guise of an innocent question. 

“You’ve spoken to Lady Lunafreya?” 

Ravus froze. He put on his best poker face, features etiolating as he turned to face the Chancellor and lie through his teeth. 

“No.” 

He never was the greatest liar. It showed.

“That obstinate secretary! Standing in the way while you rush off to slay the Hydraean for your poor sister’s sake.” 

There was no need for Ravus to walk away anymore. Ardyn had said and heard all he needed to. He glided past the shaken young commander, smiling as if nothing had happened between them. As he shrunk in the distance, his layers of black coats and spinning umbrella made him resemble an evil Mary Poppins, ready to take to the skies in search of his next victim. Ravus shuddered.  
Ardyn was on to him. There was no more hiding, no more playing double agent. His only option now was to run.

With hurried steps Ravus clambered to the church’s entrance and peaked through its doors. Its hallowed halls provided the perfect place to scheme; no service was taking place at the moment. He made sure he was completely alone before getting lost in his thoughts, checking every alcove on the off chance some poor soul was tucked away there, praying for mercy. The world was plagued by the Starscourge after all, and he could trust no one. Only when Ravus was certain he could let his guard down did he begin to pace up and down the aisle, thinking of ways to steal Luna away from Altissia’s First Secretary before the night was through.  
He could always collect her burglar style, climb in through the window during the dead of night with a balaclava hiding his face, hiss Luna’s name from the window and…This was ridiculous. Surely she would be guarded by the Empire- Altissia agreed to keep her and hand her over after she had summoned and forged the covenant with Leviathan. And even if he had the authority to tell the guards to stand down, to lie about orders for Luna’s premature retrieval and break the agreement with Altissia, things always had a way of reaching the Ardyn’s ears.   
Killing the guards and abandoning the Imperial Army immediately afterward was a thought... Swiftly he would slice the guards open with one fell swing of his sword, leaving no witnesses to his stealing away with Luna. Then the next shift of guards would come….and gawk confusedly at a pile of bodies. Word would get to Ardyn and he would connect the dots to Ravus’s disappearance. How foolish. That idea would only send a search party his way. Asking the Secretary would likely do the same; even if he could get her to trust him, he could see himself floundering for excuses, beads of sweat rolling down his neck as the Secretary refused to cast aside her suspicions and hand Luna over. Eventually he would be forced to reveal his true intentions. Ardyn would quickly learn about Luna’s vanishing when she doesn’t show up for tomorrow’s summoning. Logically, he would have a chat with the person who was keeping her last: the Secretary. She would be pressured by Ardyn’s charm into spilling the truth about Luna’s “kidnapping” and murdered on the spot. Hell, even if she managed to resist him she would probably be murdered anyway for failing to uphold her end of Nifelheim’s bargain. These were terrible ideas…it would be best if the Empire would think him and Luna dead, even if only for a moment. The longer he could keep them off his back the better.  
So who was good at causing chaos and killing people? Criminals. He could enlist criminals to create a diversion and pay them with the means to do so. Being the Imperial Commander meant he had some very powerful magitek weaponry at his disposal. He could frame it as theft, then send troops in to “reclaim Imperial property and quell the threat” and use that cover to steal Luna and run. He would be declared MIA, get the Empire off his back for a while…And that entire premise would look sloppy on his part. He wasn’t made Imperial Commander for incompetency. Ravus Nox Fleuret, the man efficient and intimidating as a titanium wall, famed for his superhuman strength, would not fall to a group of petty criminals. Ardyn wouldn’t buy it for a second.  
There was also the option of enlisting Prince Noctis’s aid. He had to be somewhere in the city as he was scheduled to receive the Leviathan’s blessing tomorrow. But as far as Noctis was concerned, Ravus was with the enemy. Gaining that boy’s trust would take too long. Besides, try as he may to believe in the young Prince of Lucius, Ravus would sooner choke on his pride than ask Noctis for help.

It was futile. He was quickly running out of ideas and the few he had all ended unfavorably. Ravus found himself kneeling before the altar, studying the dappled light shed on the stone floor by the stained glass windows. As he stared, his mind began to slip away, back to the past, back to when he had felt the same suffocating hand of despair crushing him as he watched his mother die and his country go up in flames. King Regis had been leading his sister by the hand, abandoning him to Nifelheim’s iron grip. But when Luna had looked over her shoulder and saw her brother crying out, alone, she slid her hand from Regis’s. She had chosen to forgo her own freedom…all because she knew Ravus needed her. And now it was she who needed him more than ever. He couldn’t let her down.  
Ravus tore his eyes from the floor and rose to his feet. A distraction was what he needed for his plan to work. Something massive enough to keep even Ardyn occupied. Something Ravus would struggle to stay alive against, even with the help of an army. Something catastrophic, completely out of his control, so chaotic that no one would dare look for him and Luna until they were far away from Altissia’s mild shores. A distraction as big as…  
His gaze landed on the window above the altar. It was of a serpentine beast bursting skyward from seas of colored glass; a vector to the heavens. 

“Leviathan.” He breathed.

And he had his solution. Tonight he would try to summon the sea goddess himself. It was a shot in the dark, but if it meant saving Luna, it was the best chance he had.

 

Dusk had blackened the sky by the time Ravus decided to make his move. He had been watching the guards at the First Secretary’s manor gate when a group of individuals approached them, requesting an audience with her. It was the Prince and his gaggle of muppets. From the little Ravus overheard, it sounded like their meeting would be a long one. Something about political negotiations. That should keep the Secretary busy for a while.   
While the guards were occupied with their guests, Ravus crept with laterigrade along the cobbled stone streets, stopping in the safety of a stone archway. He looked upwards, surveying the location. There were small numbers of people about, the dregs of parties honoring the speech Luna was to give tomorrow afternoon. People were always too eager to celebrate these days. Ravus wrinkled his nose at the cluster of merriment closest to him. They were laughing way too loud, lighting sparklers and popping firecrackers. Was that even legal here? He wondered if they were intoxicated with the way their silhouettes swayed. The shine of bottles in their hands confirmed his suspicions. They would make the perfect scapegoats.  
He positioned himself in front of the gondola waterway directly below the rowdy group. From his coat pocket he pulled his trump card. It was a glass bottle containing a crowning achievement of Imperial technology- Aeterna Flame. As a boy, Ravus had read books about its use as a weapon in naval combat, although they all claimed the recipe was lost thousands of years ago along with the Solheim Empire. Then, like Prometheus, Ardyn shared his knowledge with Nifelheim, allowing them to produce an uncanny replica of the forgotten art.   
Ravus snuck a quick glance back at the manor. Only one guard remained and he was in the midst of locking the wrought iron barricade. The other had probably gone on to escort Noctis and his companions inside. Ravus wasn’t about to let them lock him out. He took a few steps back, threw the glass bottle, and watched the waterway glow with the very same flames that consumed Tenebrae twelve years ago.

 

 

“FIRE!” A shrill voice slurred, “FIRE IN THE WATER!” The drunken men didn’t even notice Ravus as they fell over each other, scrambling to escape the rising flames. It didn’t take long for the guard to notice the commotion. The orange tongues were moving fast, dancing along the water, pouring onto the streets and bursting every firecracker and champagne bottle they came across. When the guard left his post to try and quell the chaos, Ravus slunk back to the manor, pushed open the gates and slipped inside. He made a point to close the gates behind him; he had to find some way to uphold his integrity whilst being the Empire’s lapdog. 

He had barely set foot in the manor before the same guard who ran off to play hero came racing through the double doors. 

“We need backup,” the guard cried, “Water isn’t working! I don’t know what to do!” 

In a haze of panic, Ravus dove for the nearest hiding place he could find. It happened to be a supply closet, where conveniently draped amongst tool cluttered shelves were a couple of spare guard uniforms. For once in his life it seemed he had lucked out. He waited until the sound of footsteps left the room before he proceeded to stuff himself into the nearest spare uniform. It was a little tight across the shoulders but that was hardly a problem. The real issue was fitting the glove over his false hand, and he cringed when the claw-like fingertips tore through. Sighing, he tied his hair back with a rubber band from the shelf and, in case anyone decided to peek into the closet, placed a bucket over his own hastily folded clothes. When he left his hiding place, he was met by the chatter of voices from upstairs. 

“Just leave the fire to us! Don’t wanna disturb history in the making!” 

That chirpy tenor had to belong to the blonde peasant boy. 

“Indeed. And about that fire…It sounds like the work of Imperial technology to me.”

Someone with an accent like Ravus’s own said- must be the bespectacled one.

“The city’s probably crawling with ‘em since Luna’s here,” 

The gruff reply undoubtedly came from that shirtless excuse for a ‘king’s shield.’ Ravus’s assertion was proven correct when he saw the trio heading down the stairs. The panicked guard was leading them while a handful of guards brought up the rear. He stepped aside to let them pass, but tensed momentarily when his eyes locked with Noctis’s entourage. Quickly he cast his gaze downward. As the band of men moved towards the doors, Ravus couldn’t help but curse under his breath; the fragments of conversation he could hear had him wondering if his cover was blown.

“Hey, is it just me or did that guard look a lot like Ravus?”

“He’s got the angry look down.”

He didn’t wait to learn what they concluded. Instead he bolted up the stairwell, grateful that the guard’s clomping boots masked his own. He had to move quickly. The trident was guarded by the Secretary for safekeeping, as the Empire couldn’t trust Luna with it given her stubborn autonomy. Since the Secretary distrusted the Empire, she would probably keep the weapon close to her and where people would be unlikely to look…A safe would be too obvious a container and cumbersome if the trident was needed in a hurry. Still, he was unsure where to look; he didn’t have time to make mistakes. He tried a different approach.  
What were Luna’s most valued possessions? Where were they kept? There was that journal she kept in her bedroom, the one she and Noctis used all these years to pass clandestine notes like naughty schoolchildren. It was hidden within her nightstand in the second drawer from the top. He knew only because he flipped through it, back before trusting Noctis was even a consideration. It was wrong of him, he knew now, and he should’ve respected Luna’s privacy more. But the relief he felt upon learning they weren’t planning to pull a Romeo and Juliet almost made the snooping worth it.   
Ravus continued down the main hallway, on the lookout for the Secretary’s room. Eventually he stumbled across what was presumably the servant’s quarters. He followed the long rows of sparsely furnished bedrooms to the end of the corridor. There he was met by a lonely offshoot, a right turn into a bare hallway save for a pair of important looking double doors at the end.  
Cautiously he turned the doorknob, flinching slightly at the sound of old oak creaking open. Oak…he had read about it in a book on woodworking. Oak was some of the sturdiest wood- a perfect barricade for hiding something precious. And what lay behind these staunch doors was none other than the Secretary’s bedroom. The trident had to be hidden here! He first checked around bed: behind the headboard, underneath the mattress and underneath the bed itself, searching the metal grating in case the weapon was lodged there and feeling the floorboards below for traces of a trapdoor. His efforts turned up nothing but he persisted nonetheless. Slowly he expanded his search to encompass the entire room, methodically sweeping the area from corner to corner. He threw open the closet, flinging aside all the clothes that might be concealing the polearm. Still, no trident was to be found. Exasperated, he whirled around…right smack into a coat tree. He stumbled backwards, letting out a low growl as the pole clattered to the ground. He didn’t have time for this! In his haste, he grabbed the fallen pole with his prosthetic hand. Curiously enough, he noticed his claws didn’t mark up the silvery metal. Ordinary silver was way too soft for that, Ravus thought as he furrowed his brows. As he made to upright the coat tree, one of the garments fell, revealing it had been resting on a curved appendage reminiscent of the ones that protruded below the fork of Luna’s trident.   
Feverously he ripped the remaining clothes from the coat tree, excitement bubbling in his chest as the familiar forked head appeared. He had found it! He actually found it! Now the challenge was ensuring he kept it. Ravus crept as quietly as he could down the corridors and out into the main hall. He could still hear the faint buzz of voices leaking from the Secretary’s office. Negotiations must not be finalized yet. Ravus had time, even if it was only minutes. He craned his neck over the stairwell, checking if the coast was clear for him to descend. He didn’t spot anyone. Things were going smoothly- almost too smoothly for someone like him, but Ravus wasn’t about to complain. He firmly clutched the polearm as he made a swift descent and locked himself back in the sanctuary of the supply closet, breathing a sigh of relief. The respite was only momentary; the voice within him nagged that he mustn’t dilly dally.   
He gathered his clothes from beneath the bucket and was about to put them on…when he had a better idea. He grabbed one of the mops leaning in the corner and, with one fluid movement, tore the head from it. Then he forced the mop head onto the trident, using the tendrils of coarse yarn to hide the weapon’s sharp prongs. If this thing could be a coat tree then it could damn well be a mop. He scooped up his clothes, throwing them back into the bucket and placed a rag overtop them. Now he was all set to be a janitor. However, his blood ran cold when he stepped out of the supply closet. When he turned to close the closet door, he heard the sound of another door opening behind him. The firemen were back.   
As the men entered the house, talking noisily amongst themselves, Ravus bent his head down and tried to keep his face devoid of emotion. If he had a talent for anything it was wearing a mask. He tried to hurry past Noctis’s nannies and the returning guards but heard their chatter die down when he neared them. They were clearly waiting for an explanation.

“I was told to clean up whatever mess you left when you put out the fire.” He blurted and made a feeble attempt to drop his accent.

The facade seemed satisfactory enough for the group to let him pass without question, but their gazes continued to bore into his back as he approached the door. As he feared, he still wasn’t home safe yet. A voice stopped him from stepping out the door.

“Hey, wait!”

It took everything Ravus had to keep himself from bolting like a scared rabbit. He didn’t turn around when he heard the patter of footsteps approach him. 

“You’re new here, aren’t you? I noticed you don’t have any keys on your belt.”

Ravus was silent. 

“Here, take mine. Don’t be embarrassed. I forgot my keys my first day on the job and ended up locking myself out of the manor. I know how it feels.”

The guard laughed and unhooked his keys from his belt, offering them to Ravus.

“Just try not to lose them, alright?”

Ravus gave only a polite nod as he took the keys, showing no hesitancy in travelling the rest of the way out the door and never looking back. That was too close a call. If it were one of Noctis’s muppets who had called him out he would’ve surely been finished. Grateful as Ravus was, how someone so naïve ever came to hold the position of guard was beyond him.

There was only one guard stationed at the gate this time.

“You here to join me? ‘S been a long night, I’ll say.”

Ravus shook his head and held up the bucket in response.

“Hah! Good luck with that- you have a whole street to tidy up for tomorrow.” 

“I’ll work my way down from there.” Ravus jerked his chin towards the end of the street.

The guard shrugged. “Whatever works.”

Ravus was relieved no questions were asked. He tried to keep an even pace as he walked down the street but he was eager to escape the scrutiny of others. When he got far enough that he was obscured in shadow, he shed his uniform, swapping it back for the white robes of the Empire. The status should keep any late night wanderers from pestering him.   
These guards were too kind, he thought as the gleam of the gate keys disappeared beneath the mop head plucked from Luna’s trident. It was a shame he couldn’t return the sentiment. Maybe now that naïve guard will learn that you can’t always be kind to strangers.   
And with that thought, Ravus ran to the marina.


	2. Divine Intervention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ravus attempts to summon Leviathan. Help for our heroes arrives in ways unexpected...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My deepest apologies for taking so long to update! I got majorly sidetracked by schoolwork and Persona 5... Great game, expect a fic related to it. Anyway, comments are my strongest form of encouragement so please don't hesitate to voice your thoughts~

There had never been a male oracle before. The gift had always been passed down to each firstborn daughter in the Fleuret family line, as far back as history could remember. Just like the Ring of the Lucii was handed on only to royalty of Lucius Caelum blood.   
Yet here Ravus was, stubbornly challenging fate, his grip white knuckled on Luna’s trident. The last time he tried pulling something like this he lost his arm. When the Lucian ring rejected him he had thought it was due to his blood belonging to a different royal family. But if Luna said the ring’s power was granted to that plebe, Nyx, so he could help her escape Insomnia…That proved exceptions could be made. Yes. If Nyx could wear that ring, surely Ravus can summon a god. He was the oracle’s brother after all.  
He cleared his throat, ignoring the perspiration building on his hands as he outstretched them and stepped towards the edge of the dock.   
Then, brandishing the trident, he proclaimed,

“Hear me, oh Hydraean, relentless as the tides! I am Ravus Nox Fleuret, elder brother of the Oracle, Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, and I call upon you in her stead! Lend me your strength, great Leviathan, and your people shall be eternally grateful! I ask you, rain calamity down upon this city so that the Oracle’s life may be spared!”

The sea remained still. Did he do something wrong? Maybe he missed an important step. When Luna would perform her summoning rituals, she was taught by her attendant, Gentiana to sing a certain song. It was tonal in nature, a cluster of notes and sounds as opposed to coherent strings of phrases. Ravus strained to remember the melody; he hadn’t heard it since childhood, when he would pass by Luna’s room while she was practicing. Still worse, he was rubbish at singing. Some ten years ago he could’ve made a piano sing, but his own voice would never cooperate. He closed his eyes and began to hum, letting the fragments of Luna’s song drift back to him. Then, engulfed by memory’s trance, Ravus opened his mouth and started to sing.  
Unfortunately, what came out wasn’t the most harmonious of sounds. Sure, it was recognizable as Luna’s melody, but just barely. But if there were an audience, Ravus wouldn’t have noticed. He was absorbed in the ritual, striking the trident into the ground as he repeated his monologue to the sea. This time he was calm as the waters before him. As he waited, his hands were upturned in orant pose and knelt on one knee behind the trident. 

Ravus couldn’t be sure how much time had passed when he cracked one of his eyes open. One thing was for certain, though, and that was that the sea still hadn’t stirred. He frowned, getting to his feet. Why did it seem that nothing ever worked out for him?! He came all this way, framed innocent people for arson, played janitor to steal his sister’s trident from the Secretary of Altissia…and for what? To be stopped here?

“Leviathan!” 

He snarled, slamming the trident into the ground.

“Are the pleas of your people so insignificant that you turn a blind eye to them? My intentions are noble in goal. Why won’t you answer me?! After Lunafreya herself I am the closest thing to Oracle!” 

He began raving at the ocean, waving the trident around in a fit of frustration. The weapon became a wrecking ball, hazardous to anything misfortunate enough to stand in its path of destruction. That included its wielder. Combined with rage’s clumsy footwork, the sheer violence of one of his swings caused Ravus to fall backwards. When the hard marble of the dock connected with his tailbone, he had had enough.

“WAKE UP ALREADY, YOU LIMP NOODLE” he shrieked, taking a chunk out of a nearby pillar with a strike of the polearm.

“I’M GONNA TRASH YOUR SHITTY CITY FOR YOU IF YOU WON’T HELP ME, YOU BLEEDING CRETIN! YOU DON’T DESRVE TO BE WORSHIPPED! YOU’RE SO ARROGANT AND SELFISH; I HOPE YOUR OCEAN BECOMES HUMANITY’S PISS POT!”

“Ravus. That is no way to address an astral.”

Ravus whirled around to come face to face with Gentiana. She looked as if she were trying to suppress laughter, the way her delicate hand covered her mouth. This only furthered Ravus’s embarrassment and his face had turned an unflattering shade of red.

“Wha?! Y-you---! How…? How much did you see?!” He sputtered, “How long have you been there?!”

“I heard everything.” She shook her head, reproving him gently like one would a foolish child. “Your devotion to your sister is admirable, but you are fortunate Leviathan ignored your call. Many an Oracle has been eaten in the past for their ‘insolence,’ even while calling on her politely.”

“I do not fear death. What I fear is doing nothing and losing everything.”

Gentiana couldn’t help but smile at his quoting his sister. 

“You two truly are sewn from the same seed. But what use would you be to your sister if you were dead? Unless you hoped that the mere summoning of Leviathan would prompt her to destroy Altissia?” 

“I am willing to lay down my life if it means Luna keeps hers.”

The fierce desperation in his eyes was unwavering.

“Very well, Ravus. So….it seems you need a distraction catastrophic enough to give you and Lunafreya an excuse to vanish and be presumed dead?”

“Yes.”

“I can arrange that,” she smiled cryptically, “Make sure to be at the marina at midnight tonight. I will take care of the rest. Can you trust me?”

 

 

“It really is a shame that you’ve come all this way to Altissia and can’t afford to see the splendors the city has to offer.” The First Secretary lamented. She was still in her office when Luna came to politely bid her goodnight. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

“No worries, First Secretary Camelia.”

Luna could never seem to kick her habit of addressing people with their proper titles, even with her own fiancée.

“It is a treat enough to marvel at Altissia’s winding waterways and graceful framework from the scope of a window. Besides, I could not get closer to Altissian culture than being a guest in a native’s household.” The oracle answered graciously. She didn’t want to make empty promises of visiting again; she knew her days were numbered, especially with the summoning tomorrow and her body already failing her. 

“Just remember that if you ever wish to return to Altissia, you are always welcome, Princess Lunafreya.”

“But I am no longer a-” Luna began to protest.

“You never stopped being one in my book. The empire will fall, my dear, mark my words. Tenebrae will be free.”

“….Thank you for your kind words.” She managed. With a heart heavy from guilt, Luna cast her gaze to the window. What she saw outside prompted a question.

“Does it normally snow in Altissia this time of year?” 

“…It never snows here at all. Why?” Camelia furrowed her brow, perplexed.

Luna moved closer to the window, beckoning for the First Secretary to follow. They peered outside at the rising blizzard. A gasp came from the older woman, but before she could comment, a third voice joined the conversation.

“Strange times are upon us, it seems.”

“Gentiana!” Luna turned, both relieved and anxious that her beloved mentor decided to pay her a surprise visit. 

“Hello, Luna.”

“How did you get in here?!” Camelia exclaimed, staring at the dark haired woman in the doorway. She was growing ever more convinced that she should tighten her security.  
Gentiana ignored the question. “As you may already know, I am Lady Lunafreya’s mentor. I’ve come to retrieve her prematurely. I’m afraid there’s been a change in plans.”

“What about Leviathan!” Luna protested.

“There will be no way to call upon the Hydrean in this weather. We will have to postpone the summoning, reconvene at a better time. Your brother is waiting for you at the marina and you are to leave with him by boat immediately. He will explain things to you later; we haven’t the time now. Before you leave, have Umbra deliver a letter to Prince Noctis. Tell him to meet you and Ravus at the marina. That is all.”

And in a cool gust of wind, she vanished. Luna thought she could still hear Gentiana’s voice, an encouraging whisper in the wintery storm, “I have faith in you, Luna.” In that moment, she knew she had to listen. Gentiana’s instructions preceded all others. 

“Thank you for having me, First Secretary Camelia.” Luna said, and prepared to brave the cold.


End file.
